Yeah the load times were awful, and the actual game really looked..."washed out", for lack of a better word. The game was also laughably easy even if you used mediocre characters in the cast. The plot and characters were really great and that kept me going, but the actual game part was just kinda ehhh.

Kind of a shame they didn't build on the direction they went in with Suiko V- I thought it was going to be a revival of the series when in fact it ended up being more of a last hurrah. Tierkreis was a weird step to the side and it was a solid game, and Suikoden Hyakunen was awful.

The graphics I remembered bugging me. Not so much because they looked bad, because they were actually pretty good (SuikoIII was more of the "early building blocks" for that...literally, it was chunky as hell) but Suiko V was so plain. I know people are quite ambivalent about graphics "bloom", but man it can make a difference to make things look a bit more alive.

Nevertheless -- I'd kill for a push to get the Suiko series on PSN. I especially love their mingling of a bunch of cultures and done pretty effectively (at least music-wise). I hate how under-utilized PSN is for classic games, North American PSN is almost a joke to how filled up the Japanese one is.

Also, while I dig the humour and the plot, is Earthbound a good contender gameplay wise?? =/

I kinda dig on Klutz64's description of FF9. It has a lot of charm, but yeah, I'm surprised it's so loved. It did something right, I'd like to think it nailed a great atmosphere and hit a good stride between drama and humor. But...what else?? :[]

Wild Armor: daresay, I'm kind of impressed you put Radiata Stories on their. I loved the art and the world, that's about it... I'm guessing you've hit up both human and non-human paths?? I was too much of a pussy to do the non-human one.

Also, to "Grandia" lovers. I'm playing it now, and while I like the 2nd game a bit more (form what I remember about it by now), I love how much party members join in NPC conversations for some nugget of wit or commentary. x)

The thing I remember most about Earthbound gameplay-wise was that it allowed you to "save" dead characters if you were fast enough to heal before their HP counter rolled to zero. There's things like that in the game that shook up what was otherwise a really plain battle system. I won't deny that anybody playing it today will find it a really slow-going game though, but at least that's sort-of intentional.

Actually, looking at those two screenshots, I think maybe they wanted to make Suiko V look more..."realistic"? In real life buildings and such don't pop out and rarely does scenery look as beautiful as it does in perfectly shot photographs. Suikoden V was colorful, but it didn't feel like it was constantly trying to flash it at you. There's this weird feeling that there's this constant white light being shone on everything in the game though, so everything feels really washed out. It's like the even lighting on the set of Star Trek: TNG.

Her hair looks like it would be annoying to deal with. One long ponytail over her eye? it would itch and get in the way...I'd know (not a face-ponytail, but I did the one-sided bangs thing). Anyways, I hear she's another addition to the "fascinating characters" lot in the Suikoden universe though. Shame about the current state of the series though.... guess Yuber's story will die with him.

Hathen: It would be nice if they gave the game a bit of a glow then. There's washed-out where it looks like it was bleached towel, and the pretty glow and effect that introduced a battle that would have been nice to see replicated. Twilight Princess particularly "mastered" this

At least they cover her whole arc. One of the best thing about the Suiko series was the sort-of "ongoing history" happening in the titles.I was tickled pink that Georg was in V.

Hopefully the Wii U and its graphic capabilities will be standardized (as in being less than what the PS4/X730 will be handling) and be a good ground to develop Suiko VI on the WiiU or the Vita or something.

Wild Armor: daresay, I'm kind of impressed you put Radiata Stories on their. I loved the art and the world, that's about it... I'm guessing you've hit up both human and non-human paths?? I was too much of a pussy to do the non-human one.

Also, to "Grandia" lovers. I'm playing it now, and while I like the 2nd game a bit more (form what I remember about it by now), I love how much party members join in NPC conversations for some nugget of wit or commentary. x)

I chose the non-human path for kicks, but I never did finish. I think what I liked about that path is that you did fight your previous allies in battles, whether they were scripted fights or encounters on the game field. The reason it was on my list was because I found the gaming charming with its ability to stay light hearted and very humorous. The start of that video I posted is just a snipit of the goofiness I like about games that don't try to get too serious. This game feels like I'm watching an episode of Growing Pains or black and white family television when it comes to the music (That intro music in that video reminded me of Mancini's Baby Elephant)

In regards to Grandia...I love the way the story progresses with the main hero. I just started playing it again not too long ago for a paper, but I noticed that characters keep telling him to man up or take responsibility. I think they do a good job with the "coming of age" bit with Justin.

Ok, there's really no order because I don't even wanna start to think about which I prefer over others even if theres obviously preferences.

1 : Resident Evil 4

This is the single-player game which I re-played the most. I played through it 3 times on gamecube, did it again on PS2 + the extra contents and then again on the HD remake on Xbox 360. It is by far the best game of the series, gameplay is imo perfect (yeah, better than the run and gun of RE6, because it removes so much of the tension), it is quite challenging, which is always a plus for me, has a good length (15 hours or so for a first run is pretty damn solid for this genre). Action-packed, but not too much since the horror feeling was still there, even after playing it several times. Such a classic!

2 : Metroid Prime

A shooter, an adventure or a platforming game? Metroid Prime does it all with a perfect pacing. I've done it 3 times, which put it just behind RE4 for the number of playthrough. It also feels like an open-world game, since theres different way to progress and you can always go back to previous places to search new upgrades and such. The soundtrack is also pretty damn solid for a non-rpg game.

3 : Starcraft : Broodwar

Ok, i'll say it now, i've never played the campaign. For me, this game is all about the multiplayer competitive scene. It is by far the most complicated online game and it requires a shit ton of skills and knowledge to be decent. Being a competitive person by nature, it's no surprise that I got hooked from 1999 to this day (well, I switched to Starcraft 2 last year). There's literaly tournaments of high quality to watch every single weeks, if that's your thing.

4 : Gears of War

I didn't bought the last of the series (Judgement), but I've played a tons of the first 3 and what got me addicted to this game was the unique 3rd person/cover system gameplay. I know theres a lot of 3rd person shooters now, but none does it as perfectly as GoW. The campaigns are pretty solid, although cliche, for a shooters, but it's all about the multiplayer again. Although i'm now a retired Gears players, I had good times with it! Having a team is a must, though, since it can be very frustrating to play with randoms teams since it requires quite a lot of teamplay for the genre.

5 : Lost Odyssey

Creator of the Final Fantasy series and Nobuo Uematsu on the soundtrack, this couldnt went wrong, right? Well, that's what I told myself and I wasn't disappointed. I know for a lot of people this was just another JRPGs, but for me it was an instant-classic. There was nothing really new, but being kinda conservative in my taste of games, I had no problem with it. Good story, awesome soundtrack, good variety of ennemies, beautiful and plenty of CGs, that's enough for me. I even cried a tiny bit at some point (ending of 1st CD or beginning of the 2nd, not sure anymore), which is a sign that the story is good.

6 : Final Fantasy IX

FFIX is the only other game which made my eyes wet (only at the ending this time, though. spoiler : theater scene, zidane show up, dagger go ape-shit and run to see him, awww). Beautiful soundtrack, environements and story did it for me. Special mention to : FF4, FF6, FF7 and FF10, which I all liked a lot, too, but i want to make place for others series.

7 : Mass Effect Trilogy

I'm normaly not into sci-fi futuristic RPGs, I prefer the fantasy-medieval theme, but for some reason I loved this trilogy so much. Maybe it's because it's a blend of shooters and rpgs, well, it's probably that when I think about it. The immersion is flawless, we need more of this genre.

8 : Elder Scrolls : 4/5

I still can't tell if I prefer Oblivion or Skyrim, both have aspect that are better than the others. I played about 150 hours on both and just like Mass Effect, I think the strong point of these games is the immersion. 5 hours of gametime in this feels like 2 at most.9 : Golden Sun 2

This is probably only because of the nostalgia since I played this as a kid, but fuck I had a good times with this game. Theres also probably the fact that I was playing it along side of my 2 cousins at the time, so we hyped ourselve to death everytime we saw each others, which was often back then. I liked the uses of the magic (psynergy I think it was called) on the worldmap/dungeons, it was original). Overall a solid standard JRPG that you can play on the go since it's on GBA.

10 : Tales of Symphonia

Sheena, mostly. I liked the little skits, gameplay which was new to me at the time and every little details in this game.

I kinda dig on Klutz64's description of FF9. It has a lot of charm, but yeah, I'm surprised it's so loved. It did something right, I'd like to think it nailed a great atmosphere and hit a good stride between drama and humor. But...what else?? :[]

I think part of it is that they weren't trying too hard. The game never felt like it was drifting too much -- it had a /core/ too it, as nebulous as it is to really DEFINE, that I don't really think any of the other FF games had. You can pick out weird moments but by and large it's an incredibly cohesive game whose gestalt works to enhances its own qualities instead of masking its flaws. It felt thought-through as a complete product, and while it didn't really shake things up much, it was, I think, much better executed for it. It's a fairly basic ATB variant, but it's one Square's used to so they were able to make it function pretty well. Dungeons were nice and interactive. ATE made the setting feel dynamic without forcing itself upon you.

There was also the immensely human quality to the story that I also think came from not having an overly lofty approach. FFs 7, 8, 10, and 12 were more about concepts in some sense than they were about characters (FFXII and VIII moreso -- XII was about politicky stuff, FFVIII was about romance-qua-romance to the extent of ignoring the human element of romance which is just dumb as shit, y'all).

I also think the things that make FFIX really work are also the exact same things that end to make people completely overlook it the first time they play it.

Logged

o/` I do not feel joy o/`o/` I do not dream o/`o/` I only stare at the door and smoke o/`

I usually rate games based on story, characters, and gameplay, so the below list will have all three unless mentioned. There are other things involved (music, atmosphere) add to the experience, but those three initial things must be there before I'll consider a game worthy of the highest honor.

In no particular order:

1. Suikoden II/V- II was good while maintaining a large cast. V is like a homage to II yet different in it's own right. The music rocks in SII.

2. Final Fantasy VI- The world, atmosphere, and music add more to the experience. Everything about this game is classic. It was groundbreaking for its time. The music is so memorable that I have Terra's song stuck in my head as I type this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNFlkfDnH9E

3. Mass Effect- I haven't played the entire trilogy, but this game helps scratch my sci-fiction itch.

4. Chrono Trigger- I was in the 9th grade when this came out. I remember waiting in anticipation for this game and, thankfully, it did not disappoint. The music, artwork, atmosphere add to the sense of wonder when playing this game.

5. Final Fantasy X- I may be in the minority, but I think it was a good addition to the Final Fantasy series. I didn't like the voice acting for Tidus and Yuna. Their scenes felt forced at times. I do think, however, that the overall concept of the game is unique and could have been delved into more.

6. Persona 4- I like the characters and story, however the dungeons are too repetitive. Same scheme with different colors. I haven't fully completed it but I realize that it is a really good game.

7. Castlevania: SOTN- Music is great. Gameplay is fast. Great game.

8. Tales of the Abyss- It seemed like it took me a long time to beat the game yet I didn't get too bored with it. The ending was good and the development of the characters felt natural.

9. Resident Evil 4- Creepy game. Atmosphere was top notch.

10. Wrestling games for the N64- Pure fun. A guilty pleasure for me. I use to watch wrestling all the time when I was in high school. These games were addictive.